Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0One-person households: 38%, a higher share than 96% of UK towns
With households with dependent children at 22%, Builth Wells is behind 88% of UK towns on that count. At the 2021 Census, 2,620 people lived locally, in 1,241 households. Census figures put residents who describe themselves as Christian at 46% locally. This Powys town has more residents aged 65 and over than just over three quarters of UK towns, at 26%.
What the Census says about Builth Wells’s people
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Builth Wells at 2,600 in 2011 and 2,400 in 2024, down 5%, against 4% for Wales: slower growth than in 98% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
A −5% change since 2011: slower than 98% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Builth Wells’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 2,600 people in 2011; 2,400 in 2024.
Growth was strongest among the 65 and over (+22%) and weakest among the 0 to 15 (−21%).
Builth Wells is older than 69% of UK towns: a median age of 47.1
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
55–59 is the most common age band: 7.2% of residents. Few places have as many residents aged 15 to 24: 10% here, more than in 71% of UK towns. In Knighton, the oldest of Powys’ towns by this measure, it is 30%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Builth Wells, 47.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Builth Wells sits above 62% of UK towns for full-time students (5.1%)
What adults did at the 2021 Census (the ONS’s NS-SEC classes), and where residents lived a year earlier.
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Address a year before the Census
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 9.3%, near enough the figure across Wales’s towns. For full-time students, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 8%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.1 people per household, fewer than in 92% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Powys’ towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
Against a figure of 3.1% across Wales’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Builth Wells comes in at 2%.
35% of households live in a detached house, more than in 66% of UK towns
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2021. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Terraced houses are home to 18% of households, against 29% across Wales’s towns. On average, 24% of households live in a detached house across Wales’s towns. Households in flats account for 12%. Every 6th household or so has no car or van.
Builth Wells ranks below 72% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 4.4%
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2021.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Born abroad and arrived since 2017: 5.2% of that group, against 23% across Wales’s towns. Compared with other places, residents whose main language is English are common here: 99%, more than in three quarters of UK towns. To put it in context, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1%).
14% of residents speak Welsh in Builth Wells
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Across Welsh towns, 16% of residents can speak Welsh; here 348 people, 14% of those aged 3 and over, said they can: more than in 62% of Welsh towns. No town in Powys beats Ystradgynlais (32%).
Builth Wells: 96% of residents describe themselves as White British, above 89% of UK towns
How residents described themselves at the 2021 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 96% of Builth Wells · Powys’ towns 94% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White British are Other White (2.3%), Mixed or multiple (0.5%) and Chinese (0.2%). Builth Wells has more residents with no religion than 79% of UK towns, at 46%. The wider picture: nine in ten residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns.
Unpaid carers: 8.1%, a lower share than 82% of UK towns
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 5 and over), Census 2021.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 5 and over
Against a figure of 38% across Wales’s towns, the share of adults who have never married in Builth Wells comes in at 35%. 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, fewer than in 79% of UK towns. Across Wales’s towns, unpaid carers come to 10%.
29% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 31% across Wales’s towns, 29% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 19% hold no qualification (20%).
Among 514 UK towns of 2,500 to 4,000 people, the 247th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 20.6 in Keele to 63.1 in West Chiltington. Nearest to Builth Wells in age: Broadwell and Coalway (47.1), Probus (47.1), Wilsden (47.2) and Snaith (47.2).
Every nearby town is older than Builth Wells
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builth Wells | 2,620 | — | 47.1 | 26% | 22% |
| Llandrindod Wells | 5,429 | 6.6 mi | 49.5 | 28% | 20% |
| Rhayader | 1,837 | 11.6 mi | 50.9 | 31% | 20% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “Powys’ towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Powys (or Wales), summed the same way as Builth Wells’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Builth Wells’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 2,469 people in 2021, against 2,620 in the built-up area.
- Small counts are blurred. The ONS adds small random changes to Census counts to protect privacy, so the same total differs a little between tables, and the shares of a small town can move by a point or two.
Questions about Builth Wells’s residents
What is the population of Builth Wells?
The 2021 Census counted 2,620 people in Builth Wells’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 2,400 people in mid-2024, 5% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Builth Wells?
The median age was 47.1 at the 2021 Census, older than 69% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 26% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Builth Wells?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 94% across Powys’ towns. 4.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Builth Wells?
46% said they had no religion and 46% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 7.4% didn’t answer.
Is Builth Wells good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Builth Wells’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Builth Wells?
348 residents aged 3 and over, 14%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area (TS002, TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS008, TS015, TS017, TS019, TS021, TS029, TS030, TS039, TS044, TS045, TS062, TS067, TS032) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.